When Love Comes To Town
by nikkisixirresistiblebitch
Summary: AU. Follow-up to I Want To Touch You- Damon and Bonnie return to Mystic Falls. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

**When Love Comes To Town **

Fandom: **Vampire Diaries television series**

**Rated: **Mature.

Pairing: **Bonnie/Damon**

**Synopsis: AU** **[Follow-up to I Want To Touch You] **Damon and Bonnie return to Mystic Falls, and Damon's having a rough go of it: Bonnie won't say "I love you" first, Stefan is giving him dirty looks, and would you believe that there are people out there who want Damon dead? Please review.

* * *

**Chapter One**

Bonnie thought that it would be a good idea if she and Damon waited to tell Stefan that they were together. Damon did not think that this was such a hot idea considering that it would mean that Damon would have to pretend, at least for a little while, that Bonnie wasn't _his_. It irked him to no end.

He was all about sparing his brother's feelings (Not really. However, Damon did not want Stefan to do something drastic like take his ring off and walk out into the sun or OD on vervain. Stefan could be such the drama queen).

Bonnie wanted to be the one to tell Stefan. Although she was confidant that Stefan will find the great love of his life, there were still many unresolved feelings. Bonnie felt strongly for Damon, and betraying him will not be an option. Still, a big part of Bonnie will concede that things might have turned out differently for her and Stefan.

Neither Bonnie nor Damon was surprised by finding Elena at the Salvatore residence. Bonnie was relieved that Stefan had someone familiar around him. Damon believed that it was about time. For all the fun and feelings shared between him and Elena, she always had one eye on Stefan, the one who got away.

Elena greeted Bonnie with a hug, and there was a warmness that wasn't there before. It meant something like the two could be friends again. It meant something like the two could be close again.

Elena's hug with Damon was a little more tentative. I meant something like I loved you because you once loved me, but there is someone who means much more to me now.

Almost at once, what was a company of three became four when Stefan joined Elena, Bonnie and Damon. Stefan and Damon don't hug in greeting any more, not since they were human and naive. The two sort of looked each other over; making sure that the other was in one piece.

Seeing Bonnie makes Stefan feel as if he can breath easily again. Stefan thought that he would never see Bonnie again, that she would just stay out of his reach for the rest of him immortal life. But seeing Bonnie again, in front of him, makes Stefan believe that he would do anything for her.

The hug between Bonnie and Stefan makes Damon uncomfortable. He would have to have a little talk with Stefan about touching things that belong to Damon.

The four have dinner, and it would be normal if Damon and Stefan weren't vampires, and if Bonnie wasn't a tried and true witch.

They play catch up, because that is the proper thing to do when one hasn't seen another for a long time. The conversation turns deeper and Bonnie tells of Nikolas, and Krystal, and the wedding that thankfully never happened.

"Why didn't you tell me?," Stefan honestly wants to know. There is no heat behind the question, only annoyance that he was not involved with getting Bonnie out of such a sticky situation.

"I didn't want to involve anyone. I was convinced that I was meant to marry Nikolas. I was actually relieved that Damon decided to stay around and help despite my telling him to go way."

With that, Stefan looks at Damon with a mixture of gratitude and suspicion: He was glad for Damon taking care of Bonnie, but he remembers all too well a certain phone call that his brother made to him about breaking up weddings. If Stefan would have known Bonnie was involved, he would have helped. Damon obviously didn't want that for some reason.

After dinner is more talking, about everything and nothing, about Elena being okay enough to walk around at night without a chaperone. It's not like a dark force kidnapped Elena, she went looking for the big bad and it bit her in the ass. She faced the consequences, and for a time she was scared. She's not scared anymore.

Damon is unusually quiet because he doesn't want to talk. He wants to take Bonnie upstairs and touch her, and show her all of the things that he is way too cowardly to actually say.

But Stefan looks like he has the exact same idea, and that does not sit well in Damon's stomach. He would like to pretend that it is the Italian food making his stomach churn, but it feels alot like jealously.

Talk ends because Bonnie suddenly announces that she wants to talk to Stefan privately.

Stefan looks at her with all the expectation of a lover and Bonnie hates how disappointed Stefan will be once he learns of her and Damon.

Alone and seemingly out of earshot, Stefan takes Bonnie into his arms again. It's comfortable and comforting and so familiar, and Bonnie pulls away because it's not right.

"Stefan, I have to tell you something."

"What is it?," A frown forming on Stefan's face.

"I have come to realize that I value you Damon―"

"He saved you." Stefan says matter-of-factly, interrupting Bonnie.

"It's more than that," Bonnie continued, "I have romantic feelings for Damon."

Stefan thought that this was possibly a joke but he knew that Bonnie would never joke about something of this nature.

Seeing Stefan's face spurred Bonnie to continue talking, "I never felt this way about him when you and I were together. Even when I slept with Damon before, I always believed it was out of necessity."

"I thought you loved me," Stefan responded because that was all he could think about: how he feels for Bonnie, and how she feels about him.

"I did love you, but our relationship has changed," Bonnie says, trying to express to Stefan how her love for him has matured into something less all-consuming.

"Did he tell you about Elena and I because, I swear it was nothing. It meant nothing. I just ― I was lonely, and she was here, she's always here ―"

"It's not about you or Elena. Your brother and I have formed a bond, and I have decided to see where it takes us."

"He's using you," Stefan tries to explain because girls never seem to understand that Damon is like that sometimes.

"He may be using me. This could all be a way to get at you or Elena, but if I trust nothing else, I trust how I feel. I know I am hurting you but the relationship that you and I had cannot be repaired."

"So let's start over." Stefan tries again, because short of making Bonnie understand what she means to him, he can't stop trying.

"I don't want to start over," Bonnie cringes at her own honesty, and she cringes at Stefan's clinched jaw.

Damon listens to Elena go on and on about some fascinating television show, and he is trying to split his attention between Elena, and listening to Bonnie and Stefan. Damon panics, more than a little, at the thought that Bonnie will suddenly feel as if she made a mistake and run off with Stefan. It's not impossible. She loved him first, after all.

Stefan and Bonnie return, and there is the most vicious look on Stefan's face like if he could tear Damon from limb to limb without feeling horrible afterwards, he would.

Stefan looked like he was desperately trying to reign in his emotions, and Damon hasn't seen this much outrage since the time he caught Damon and Elena in flagrante, or earlier than that, those years when Stefan was blood-crazed.

Damon sleeps with one eye open.

* * *

The next two weeks are strange and strained, and Damon feels like he should apologize for something. But that is ridiculous because Bonnie did not belong to anyone, not even to Nikolas, and Damon got her in the fairest way he has managed in a long time and he will not let her go because Stefan's jealous. This is not Katherine 2.0 (that would be Elena). This was about Damon having someone who lights up this whole boring planet.

To his credit, Stefan doesn't do any bodily harm to Damon, or threaten harm, or even plot harm.

Damon is on guard for a while anyway because Stefan loved the element of surprise.

The first week, Stefan would just glare at Damon like he's stolen his favorite toy. By the second week, Damon could ask Stefan to pass the coffee without feeling that Stefan will pass him a fist instead.

Bonnie wanted to take it slow with Damon, not wanting to be insensitive to Stefan. Bonnie also considered selling the Bennett home. Bonnie knew that it might not go for much in this economic climate but she wanted something smaller.

Damon honestly wanted to hear all about Bonnie's thoughts on the matter, but he became concerned with kissing the corners of her mouth that turned up whenever she smiled, with running his hands wherever they curved along her body. He kissed and licked the spot where her neck met her shoulder, and he briefly considered biting his Little Witch because he knew that she could take whatever he gave her.

He finally covered her lips with his mouth because she wouldn't shut up.

Watching from the window was an increasingly unhinged woman. It disgusted her how he doted on the insipid witch. What did Bonnie have that she didn't? Sure, Bonnie was young and beautiful, but Corrine did not look a day over her 617 years of age. To think, she once let Damon sucker her into helping him find that bitch, Katherine.

All of that was history for now. Corrine was there to do a bigger job: Kill Damon Salvatore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Bonnie heard a tree branch crack first, but Damon got outside quicker. Corrine was ready for him; she was his elder, after all. What she didn't expect was the murky slowness of her response and the searing pain in her head. Before losing consciousness, Corrine reminded herself that attacking Damon Salvatore with his witch around was a bad idea.

When Corrine opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Stefan Salvatore standing over her, with his sleeves rolled up, looking entirely too calm. That was not good.

Corrine appeared to be sitting in a chair; there was nothing holding her, no rope or handcuffs. The mere gaze that Stefan trained on her was enough to inform her that any move she made would be her last. It wasn't fair. Wasn't Stefan on raccoon blood, or something? Corrine thought that Stefan had no right to be intimidating.

Damon came into her view, lurking in the background. Damon appeared to be in a good mood, not at all perturbed that Corrine could have killed him. That was not good.

Damon spoke first, "Why were you outside of Bonnie's home?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about?," Corrine responded.

Suddenly, a stake appeared as if out of thin air, landing square into the middle of her chest. The hand at the end of the wood was Stefan's.

"Let's try this again. Why are you stalking Bonnie?," Damon asked very patiently.

"Bonnie? Who's Bonnie?," Corrine lied.

There was a malicious twist in her chest, then. Corrine's breath caught. It had been a long time since she felt anything this painful.

This is what its like to be tortured by the Salvatore Brothers.

"Okay, let's try a different route," Damon cheerily suggested. "Why did you try to attack me?"

"I was told to do so," Corrine pushed out passed the blossoming pain in the center of her chest.

"By whom?", Damon asked.

When Corrine didn't respond, a tweak of Stefan's wrist had Corrine writhing in displeasure.

"By whom?," Damon asked again.

"The Dark Covenant," Corrine wheezed.

* * *

A day after the brothers disposed of Corrine's body, they decided to have a discussion about the Dark Covenant.

"The Covenant is mostly made up of witches and warlocks. What would they want with you?"

"It's not like I haven't screwed over my fair share of witches in my time. Although you have to admit, sending a vampire to kill another vampire was a smart move." Damon responded, seemingly amused with the latest turn of events.

"If Bonnie hadn't been around, it would have been a little more difficult for you," Stefan reminded Damon.

"Please, I could have defended myself against Corrine."

* * *

"Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if you weren't a witch?," Elena asked wonderingly.

"I have thought about that. A lot, actually. There was a time where I would seriously give this up just to be normal. But then I wouldn't have a way to protect those I care about," Bonnie answered honestly.

"I sometimes wonder what it would be like if I never laid eyes on Stefan," Elena offered.

The two young women were at the Bennett residence, talking, and it felt good, but Bonnie wasn't sure if she was ready to have a talk about the Salvatore brothers, with respect to their love lives.

"I love Stefan, but it is really complicated now," apparently Elena had no trouble diving right in.

"He still loves you," Elena continued.

"Our relationship has changed. Stefan understands that." Bonnie was aware that Stefan was not too happy about her relationship with Damon, but he seemed to understand that Bonnie really cared for Damon.

"So, what you're saying is, he'll get over it,?" Elena asked with a hint of disbelief.

"I'm saying that eventually he will move on."

* * *

Four days later, a crone from the Dark Covenant launches herself through a window of the Salvatore residence.

Damon should have taken the time to pay attention when the apprehended lackey foretold of a child being born, welcoming death and destruction its very existence.

But Damon was annoyed at the interruption, if nothing else. The 'Bachelorette' was on and he didn't want to miss the one-on-one date.

Stefan comes home from his not so secret meeting with a family of deer, and goes straight to his room, hoping to wash off the gamey smell of blood.

Stefan comes back down stairs a moment later, hoping to clarify some things with his brother.

"Damon, why is there a dead witch on my bed?"

Damon gestures toward the broken glass of the window. "She broke in, " Damon answered simply, immersed in the goings-on on television.

"Yes, but why is she on my bed?"

"I didn't want to leave her on the floor. It would have distracted me. You know I have ADHD, or something. Besides, your room is closer. Don't worry, I'll replace the sheets."

* * *

Damon get's the idea to do something terribly romantic for Bonnie, so he takes it upon himself to expand her collection of lingerie.

The sales woman is flirting with him like mad and she keeps asking who the special woman is in his life, while simultaneously feeling his bicep.

Damon is flattered, but her attention does nothing for him anymore. He is way more concerned about Bonnie liking this red lacy thing in his hands.

Tonight will be the night she stops all of the stupid pretense and tell him that she loves him. Damon will say it back and then all will be right in the world.

Damon urges the sales rep to charge him for the flimsy thing but she's staring at the space behind him like she has seen a ghost.

Damon feels the chill first, which is stupid because he is a vampire and there is no reason for him to chilly.

Damon turns around, ready to mock and maim whatever is ruining his night but there is a swift stab in the middle of his chest that just fucking hurts.

Damon's last thought before losing consciousness is that Bonnie's never going to believe him when he tells her why he was late.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far!**

* * *

**Chapter Three**

As it turns out, the idiots who captured Damon were third or fourth tier witches, witch meant they had no effective power. With a really cool MacGyver move, Damon manages to over power them, free himself of his confines, and grabs a fulfilling meal on legs because the least these boneheads could do is provide dinner.

Damon goes straight to Bonnie's place, thinking of a way to explain that he was captured and threatened without sounding like he's lying. He missed a romantic dinner, and she's surely to be pissed off but it wasn't his fault.

When arrives, Bonnie's standing on the front porch looking angry and beautiful. Then, Bonnie's face blanches when she sees the big, bloody blotch in the middle of his chest. Damon mentally kicks himself for wearing a white shirt, and vows to stick to black next time.

Before Bonnie could ask, 'what the hell happened?,' Damon swoops her up and kisses her. It's all cliché and it's like something out of a bad romance novel but Damon doesn't care when he slants his mouth over hers, driving his tongue into her wet, hot mouth. This makes more sense than anything.

* * *

A few days later, Stefan wants to have a serious conversation about responsibility and death threats, or was it the other way around?

"What do you plan to do about the Dark Covenant?," Stefan begins.

"What about them?" Damon's nonchalance is astounding.

"There have been several attempts at your life!" Stefan urges.

"Attempts being the operative word. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you are worried. Wow. Is this you, actually caring?," Damon delivers in his driest tone.

Stefan doesn't want this to be about him caring for Damon's safety because he'd never believe it anyway. "On one of those occasions, Bonnie was with you. You were lucky that Corrine didn't succeed. But what if someone gets the best of you? Where does that leave Bonnie?"

Damon considered this for a moment, then responded, "You don't have to concern yourself with Bonnie. Besides, I'm sure that if anything were to happen to me, you'd ride right in on your white horse."

Damon turns to leave what is, in his opinion, a ridiculous discussion, but not without one parting shot.

"Oh, before I forget: Stop looking at my girlfriend like you want to do naughty things to her. It's really annoying." Damon's face is all humor but there is an unmistakable warning in the remark.

Stefan cocks his head to the side, as if noticing Damon for the first time, and quickly recognizes a pissing contest for what it is, "I'll stop looking at Bonnie when _she_ tells me to."

Stefan leaves the room first, ruining any chance of Damon getting the last word.

* * *

Sometimes, Stefan likes being alone with his thoughts. It's not as depressing as would Damon like to believe. Stefan will concede that there is the danger of thinking too hard about a life you can't change.

"Hey."

Stefan follows the voice and turns around to see Elena at his doorway, looking beautiful and contrite. Stefan searches for something inside of him, anything that he could say to convince her to stop being sorry.

"I didn't want to disturb you, I just wanted to let you know that I'm leaving."

"Leaving?," Stefan responds.

"If we are ever going to have a chance, I have to stop crowding you," Elena simply states.

"You're not getting in the way."

Elena gives him a look of disbelief and continues "I'm moving in with Bonnie. We've always talked about rooming together. It'll be pretty cool."

"You don't have to go."

"You don't want me here."

"That's not―"

"Before you say anything, I'm not mad about it. I know I've done things that you have a hard time forgiving. Even before Belle."

Elena continues, "I love you, Stefan. Only you and I know that I haven't acted that way. I know you don't love me the same way anymore. But I want to try."

"I want you to keep trying," Stefan responds as honestly as he can despite his mixed emotions.

* * *

Bonnie has taken to wearing these slippery, silky things at bedtime that look good against her skin and even better off because Damon has a fondness for them. There are books splayed all over the bed and Bonnie hopes that she can find out what the Covenant wants with Damon before they hurt him.

Damon walks into the bedroom shirtless, of course. Damon moves swiftly, and the books go flying off the bed. Bonnie would be angry that Damon made her lose the page she was reading, but a hand soothes down her shoulder, taking a strap of the slip down with it.

"Damon, I'm trying to help you."

"You can help me in more interesting ways then reading old, dingy books." Damon busies himself with trailing kisses from her shoulder to her neck, and repeating the process.

"This is serious!" Bonnie urges, "Besides, I don't want to traumatize Elena just yet."

Damon stops cold, "What does Elena have to do with this?"

"I told you yesterday. Elena left the boarding house and is now living here."

"You didn't say anything yesterday."

"Did, too!"

"When?"

"Before we went to sleep."

"No, we had sex before we went to sleep."

"Right." Bonnie says simply.

"You know better than to tell me something important when you're naked."

"Look, it doesn't matter. She's staying here." Bonnie uses her powers to lift the books off the floor and place them on the bed in one swift movement.

"How long do we have to wait?," Damon asks.

"Just until Elena is settled," Bonnie answers, already distracted with her reading.

"I'm going back to the boarding house." Damon gets up from the bed, and finds his shirt.

"You're not staying?" Bonnie looks up from the book in her hands.

"I don't want to leave Stefan home alone too often," Damon jokes.

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow," Bonnie responds with a smile on her face.

Damon is bothered by the fact that Bonnie would let him go so easily. They have slept side by side more often than not since the 'Nikolas situation'.

When Damon heads to the doorway, Bonnie comes up behind him and places her arms around him. Damon turns to face his little witch with a smirk plastered to his. Bonnie stands on tippy-toe to reward Damon with a soft kiss.

"Don't get into any trouble. And please, for all of our sakes, stay alive," Bonnie mumbles against Damon's lips before sending him on his way.

Damon thinks the whole night sucks and he is more than willing to take it out on his brother.

Stefan's reading a book when Damon barges into his bedroom.

"Did you send Elena to Bonnie's home just to cock-block me?" Damon asks, sounding more like an accusation than a question.

"No. Elena came to the decision, herself. If I would have known it would have an adverse effect on your sex life, I would have suggested it sooner."

Damon blinks at Stefan's attempt at humor.

Damon decides to knock Stefan's model of a classic car over and stomps out of the room.

A corner of Stefan's mouth twitches up because Damon's temper tantrums are hilarious.

* * *

Bonnie comes downstairs the next morning, desperately wanting something fatty and oily to fully wake her up.

Bonnie goes into the kitchen and sees Elena already there reading a newspaper. Toast, eggs, and bacon are on the table and Bonnie is really thankful she agreed to have Elena live with her.

Bonnie blinks and sees another woman sitting opposite of Elena.

"Elena, who is this?," pointing to the unknown woman.

Elena looks up from the paper, "What are you talking about?"

The woman looks to Bonnie, "She can't see me. Only you, and other witches. Some humans, if they have the gift. Vampires, some werewolves, dogs, cats, small children..."

"Um, Elena why don't you finish unpacking and I'll come and join you after I've eaten," Bonnie suggests.

"That's a good idea," Elena gets up from the table, ready to start the day.

"Who are you?" Bonnie asks immediately.

"I'm Danicka, an Asuras demon. I've been commissioned by the Dark Covenant. They've tried other vampires, and some witches, but your boyfriend kills them all."

"What do they want with Damon?"

"Well, initially they wanted to kill him, but I suggested talking it over with you instead."

"Talking what over?"

"You have to break up with Damon before he impregnates you."


	4. Chapter 4

**I want to take the opportunity to thank each and every person took the time to review my story.**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter Four**

Bonnie's laughter bordered on hysterical. She took one look at the demon sitting at her kitchen counter, and laughed some more.

"Now, I know you are messing with me. I'm a witch, and Damon is a vampire. He's undead. That's like the safest sex ever," Bonnie responded, pleased with herself for being so logical when faced with such craziness.

"Are you not a Bennett witch?," Danicka asked.

"Yes."

"Is Damon a Salvatore?"

"Yes. What does that have to do with anything?"

"A Bennett witch plus a vampire from the Salvatore line, equals baby," Danicka answered, as if that explained everything.

"I'm sorry, I don't get it," Bonnie's smile slipped because she was realizing that this demon was terribly serious.

"It's the classic design of love, sex and magic."

"Look, I seriously doubt that I could make a baby with Damon. It's pretty much impossible."

"Are you saying that the prophecies revealed to the Dark Covenant are false?," Until this point, Danicka has been nothing but polite and cheerful. Now, there was a hint of danger in her voice.

"No, I am not doubting the fact that the Dark Covenant believes it can happen, what I struggle with is how?," Bonnie assuaged.

"Oh, that's understandable," Danicka responded with a smile.

Danicka continued, "When a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, or two men and a woman love each other, sometimes they want to express their love so they―"

"I know how to have sex," Bonnie insisted.

"Are you sure? You two are pretty tame. I would have thought all of your inhibitions would be gone by now."

"I'm not discussing my sex life with you!"

Elena comes into the room, wondering about Bonnie's raised voice, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine," Bonnie responded with a tight smile.

"Who are you talking to?," Elena asks.

"You wouldn't believe it if I told you."

"Well, let me know if you need back up," Elena volunteered, looking around suspiciously before living the kitchen.

"That one is a little prudish, too," Danicka said, pointing to a retreating Elena.

"How do you know all of this?" Bonnie asked, immediately regretting the question as soon as it's out of her mouth.

"We know everything. Although, I must say, by human standards, all of you are pretty kinky, especially Stefan Salvatore. Is he seeing anyone?"

"First we are prudes. Now we are kinky?"

"Kinky for humans, anyway. There are standards that the supernatural community must live up to. Regardless of what you may believe, you are a part of that community too."

"I know that."

"Do you?"

Bonnie sighed. This wasn't the first discussion she had about not being witchy enough.

"I'm not here to badger you. Its simple request: dump Damon."

"That's not simple."

"Feelings, right? It's either that or he dies... somehow... when the Covenant figures out a way to kill him."

"Would it be so horrible to have a child? I mean, not that I want one. I'm young. And Damon's...sort of youngish."

"Nothing wrong with having children. Except, your child with Damon may turn out to be something akin to the anti-Christ."

"What!," Bonnie responds, clearly alarmed.

"It's not your or Damon's fault actually, well more like bad parenting. Your kid will have an inflated sense of ego because he's the product of a Bennett and Salvatore, which carries high esteem in the supernatural social order. Because of that, your offspring may or may not decide to destroy the world, just because he can."

"That's terrible. I'm a horrible mother?"

"No. Well, maybe. It depends, really. Your offspring has the capacity to be unspeakably good, or unspeakably bad. The Covenant chooses to focus on the bad."

"But there is a possibility of goodness."

"The Covenant can't take that chance."

"I'll just take birth control. See problem solved," Bonnie didn't really think the problem was solved but Danicka didn't need to know that.

"That's not going to help. The only sure way is if you not have sex with Damon."

"Then I won't. I'll take a vow of abstinence."

"Do you really think Damon's not going to want to have sex with the woman he loves?"

"Damon doesn't..." Bonnie starts to say.

Danicka raised an eyebrow.

"Does he?," Bonnie finally asked.

"You, my dear, have to stop holding back. If you embraced your full potential, you would have known that Damon is in love with you. The great Damon Salvatore has fallen in love, it's all over the realms."

Bonnie sighed, pitifully. "Give me sometime. No more assassination attempts."

"A week is all I can promise. It's getting too close to the time."

"What time?"

"I've said too much already," Danicka panicked, and then vanished.

* * *

"So, my son or daughter could be the spawn of Satan," Damon ponders out loud.

Elena, Stefan and Damon crowd together in Bonnie's kitchen after the demon had vanished.

"Yep, pretty much," Bonnie responded.

Bonnie was taking this surprisingly well. It's not everyday one is told that his or her child is going to be evil.

"Well, considering that the father is Damon, I'm not surprised," Stefan remarks in all seriousness.

Bonnie cracks a smile, Elena hides her grin with the hand that's not rubbing Bonnie's arm in support. Damon narrows his eyes at his brother, "Stefan, stop trying to be funny."

"What happens now?," Elena asks once she sobers.

"The Covenant is going to give me and Damon a week to figure out what to do."

"Alright," Damon announces with a sigh, "time to leave."

Damon takes the coffee mug out Stefan hand, presses his hands against Stefan's sharp shoulders, and steers Stefan out of the house through the kitchen back door.

Damon returns and commences to do the same thing to Elena.

"But I live here," Elena protests.

"Come back later. Wait, I have a better idea, why don't you..." The rest of Damon's suggestion was lost in a whisper.

Elena blushed scarlet, and looks at Damon with a mixture of curiosity and disgust, to which Damon responds, "Trust me, Stefan will enjoy it."

Damon slams the door on Elena's shocked visage.

Damon turns towards _his_ witch. Believe it or not, Damon is really not the possessive type. Damon knows that he could have anything in the world, but he doesn't walk around believing that anything in the world is his. He thinks of all the things he's wanted as badly as Bonnie. He wanted Katherine. He wanted Stefan to be his brother again. He wanted Elena, but that was only so he wouldn't feel left out. Left out? Where the fuck did that come from?

Bonnie's lost in her own head again. Damon hates it that Bonnie takes things so seriously. He hates the frown on her face and the worry in her eyes. And it's all because of some cock-blocking prophecy.

Damon walks over and wraps his arms around Bonnie because that is what a good boyfriend does. Damon wants to ask her if she considered it. He wants to know if Bonnie thought, for one single moment, that dumping him might not be such a bad idea.

Damon puts his face to her hair, and inhales, and there is a stirring through out his body that makes up for all of this crappy news as of late.

He wants to ask her if she loves him because he is pretty sure that he loves her.

* * *

Elena's prompt removal from the residence would have meant she'd just walk around aimlessly, but Stefan didn't leave right away, so she opts to walk around aimlessly with him.

Stefan's nearness makes her stomach flip-flop. Elena's fingers itch to touch him. She wants to kiss that hard jaw. Most of all she wants to kiss his firm lips, because she knows, with absolute certainty, that his lips would be soft against hers.

* * *

The next night, Bonnie sits through _Blade Runner_ because Damon had said it was his and Stefan's favorite film for a good seven years. Before that, _Taxi Driver_ was the two Salvatores' favorite. That obsession lasted for six years. Something about men not knowing what the hell to do with themselves, and not knowing what the hell to do with the people they have placed themselves in charge of. It all ends in blood and destruction, anyway.

Then Stefan and Damon had a falling-out that lasted for fifteen years and the brothers stop having favorite movies in common. Bonnie thought that was a little sad. Damon ignored her.

Damon's eyes are glued to the screen even though he has seen this film a billion times, and Bonnie can't stop doing a countdown in her head.

A little less than a week to come up with something that will convince the Dark Covenant that killing Damon is a bad idea.


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my work so far.**

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**Chapter Five**

Damon watched as Bonnie ran around like a chicken with its head cut off; such a frenzied manner that it gave Damon a headache. He wanted to tell her to sit down. Bonnie wouldn't listen anyway. She'd do what she wants to do, regardless.

Bonnie wants to save him. She wants to save him from a bunch of robe wearing witchy geeks who seem to have trouble interpreting their own prophecy.

A child, good or bad, is not in the cards for him and Bonnie right now, anyway. He has just gotten used to having her to himself. He was not so sure that he wanted to share her with a squirming, screaming, crying _thing_. That's Stefan's dream, not his.

Bonnie was disturbed at Damon's calm behavior. There was only three days left in the week, and the assassination attempts would commence again. Damon didn't seem worried. But Damon always confused foolhardiness with bravery, and he sometimes took his own immortality for granted.

Bonnie wondered if there was a small part of Damon that wanted to die. After all, he's lived so long; not longer than most, but long enough to figure out that immortality does not make a wonderful life.

* * *

Bonnie continued to read books that she could no longer stand or understand. Her eyeballs burned and her temples throbbed in concert with her heart.

Danicka appears out of nowhere and Bonnie is not as startled as she should be.

"Very good, Bonnie! You sensed my arrival," Danicka exclaims.

"There is still some time left. The Dark Covenant shouldn't be contacting me yet."

"I am not here on behalf of the Covenant."

Bonnie cocked an eyebrow at this, "Then why are you here?"

"I want to help you."

"Why?," Bonnie asked in disbelief. Damon taught her that everyone, man, woman or child, was out for themselves. If one wanted to help you, it was so he or she could help his or her self. Bonnie did not believe that everyone was like that. However, Bonnie will concede that selfishness is plays a huge part of humanity.

"I think the Covenant is too harsh with the way they go about extinguishing anything they interpret as being a threat to their livelihood. Anything they say is law and they lie by omission to often."

"Is that your roundabout way of saying that their prophecies are full of shit?"

"Not exactly. There is some truth in what is revealed to them."

"Then what are you saying?"

"What I am saying is one should arm themselves with all the facts."

"Which are?," Bonnie prompted.

"Avoid having sex during the Month of Merriment."

"Merriment?"

"I can't give you all the answers. Look it up!" Danicka exclaimed before vanishing, similar to the previous encounter.

* * *

"Month of Merriment, or Merriment Month," Elena asked again, trying to make herself useful by looking through the many books spread out in front of Bonnie.

"I think you should just look for _gauisus mensis_, which roughly translates into month of joy in Latin," Bonnie responded helpfully.

"Okay," Elena responded, easily.

"You know it would be so much easier if these books had indexes," Elena said after a moment.

"Who needs easy, when difficult is much more life affirming."

Elena smiled at that remark, and continued to flip through a large leather-bound book.

Bonnie sharp intake of breath caught Elena's attention.

"What is it Bon?"

"I think I found it," Bonnie responded, with more than a little awe lighting her voice.

* * *

The week was up, and the attacks began. Stefan was walking around in the woods, contemplating which animal he should hunt when a witch jumped out of a tree, stabbed him in the ribs and tried to scratch his eyes out.

There was a moment of confusion because Stefan is not use to being attacked (That is a lie. Stefan has been ambushed more times than he can count but it was still irritating.)

Stefan pulled the stake out of his side and stabs the offending assailant in the neck.

When Stefan returns home, Damon looks up from polishing his shoes and sees Stefan disheveled state.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"I was attacked. A witch thought that I was you."

Damon scoffed, "That's impossible. I am much better looking."

The brothers replace the kitchen window after a warlock thought it would be a good idea to throw a ball of energy through it.

Elena elbows a witch when she tries to take her for ransom in exchange for Damon.

Bonnie sets a warlock on fire when he attempts to surprise her while taking a shower.

The attempts are countless, success is nonexistent.

Damon and Bonnie are having dinner when three witches descend on the dinning table. Neither the dinner nor the table was salvaged. The witches were allowed to live but they were sent on their way with a message from Bonnie.

* * *

Bonnie painted her nails while Damon organized her underwear: first, according to color, and second, according to skimpiness.

A witch appears, and one could tell that the level of power is unlike the previous persons sent to get rid of Damon Salvatore.

Damon's face was calm, but underneath was an animal posed to attack.

"You can uncoil your body from all of that clearly uncomfortable tension, young man. If I wanted to harm you and your witch, I would have done so," the unknown spectre remarked.

Then, the nameless witch engaged Bonnie, "As for you, I accept your sacrifice, and I would hope you remain steadfast."

The unknown witch does the vanishing act and Damon is left to wonder what sacrifice Bonnie has made.

Bonnie waits until Elena is asleep in front of the television, and Damon has rubbed off the carpeting on her floor with all of his pacing back and forth.

"What did she mean by sacrifice?," Damon spits out quickly. There is something about this situation that makes his skin itch and head hurt, and there is an all around bad feeling invading his space.

"You don't have to worry. It was a small physical sacrifice."

"Meaning?"

"I can't do any type of magic during the Month of Merriment."

"Month of Merriment?"

"It is sort of a holiday stemmed in sorcery, lust, and eventually, fertility. I have chosen to knowingly abstain from the celebration as an act of purity."

"Act of purity, " Damon parrots, because there is something in him that finds this conversation unbelievable.

"Yes," Bonnie responds, quite simply.

"What else aren't you telling me?"

"Besides the no magic, we can't have sex, but that's the least of my worries. If something happens to Elena or you and Stefan, I will have no way to help without using my powers..."

Bonnie rambled on but Damon's attention caught on the "sex" part of the spiel.

"So we can't have sex for a month?," Damon asks to be sure that he has heard correctly.

"It's just a month. Merriment is the only time that a supernatural force that is usually sterile can procreate."

"What about this nonsense that it takes a Bennett witch and a Salvatore vampire to possibly create the devil?"

"The prophecy revealed to the Dark Covenant suggested a Bennett witch, I am the only one, and a Salvatore, you are the only Salvatore that I am with. That is as far as I understand, courtesy of Danicka. In a sense, I am attempting to disprove a prophesy. It's been done before."

A moment of relief floods him because Bonnie will be safe and she won't be going anywhere, and that makes his undead heart smile a little.

And then there is the anger, because Bonnie never told him her plans, never involved him in any way, and this wasn't her decision to make. It never was.

"Is there any reason that you felt it was perfectly alright to make deals behind my back?"

"It wasn't behind your back, it was in front of your face. It is not my fault that your attention span is wonky."

"I'm not trying to be funny right now."

"Neither am I. Are you really mad at me because I figured a way out of this mess?"

"You mean my mess?"

"No. Our mess. This involves me just as much as it involves you."

"I don't see the Covenant trying to kill you."

"I can't explain their actions, but I am not sorry for doing something about it."

"What does that mean?"

"You didn't do anything! When anyone else is in danger, you hatch all of these plans to save them but you didn't do very much to help yourself."

"So that's what this is about. You want to fix me."

"What are you talking about, I don't want to fix you."

"Yes, you do. You want that happily boring life like you could have with Stefan."

"What does Stefan have to do with this?"

"How long did it take you to tell him you loved him?"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter but real life gets in the way.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Reviews keep me going.**

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**Chapter Six**

Bonnie scoffs, "You are so full of yourself, Damon. You are so unbelievably full of yourself. What do you want me to say to you? I don't want to play that game; I shouldn't have to downplay my previous relationship with Stefan just to make you feel better. That. Is. The. Past, " Bonnie said it slowly, as if Damon wouldn't get it any other way.

Bonnie continued, "Its not like you and I have this amazing history together. It's not like you could even notice me beyond your obsession with Katherine, or Elena, or whoever the hell you claimed to be in love with at the time. Oh, and who was the first person you used when you came to town? Caroline, was it not? You see, I wasn't your type for a long time and I didn't want to be because you were such a bastard to anyone who meant anything to you."

"Okay, I admit that I've fucked my way through life for decades. That's a mute point," Damon responds, not liking the turning in his stomach that told him that this conversation was going to end badly.

"That's not the point I am trying to make. When did I become so important to you? When Stefan realized that I was good for something other than being a sidekick? Because if Stefan doesn't recognize prime quality female first, then its no good for Damon, right?," Bonnie asked.

Damon smiled tightly, no joy whatsoever reaching his eyes. He wanted to seem dangerous, because somewhere along the way, Bonnie forgot that he could be the most dangerous person she ever knew, "You're tired, you should get some sleep," Damon all but threatened.

"No, you asked a question, so we will talk. I have some questions for you, too. When did you decide that you liked me? When did you decide that you wanted more than just sex from me? You walk around with a chip on your shoulder because every girl you ever wanted seemed to want Stefan, too. That's what you are used to, right?," Bonnie asked with more than a little anger lighting her voice.

Bonnie continued, "Let me make something clear to you: When I was with Stefan, I wanted him and only him. I didn't want you, too. And when the succubus thing happened, that was the single most humiliating experience of my life. I didn't feel like a lucky girl with two Salvatore brothers on my arm. I felt like a faithless bitch, if you want to know the truth. You stand there and demand everything from me because all of your life you felt cheated. You want me to bear everything I am to you, but you get to hold back. You ask me how long it took for me to tell Stefan that I loved him; it wasn't long. If I wanted to be with Stefan, right now, I could and there's not a damn thing you or Elena could do about it. But I don't want him like that, anymore."

Bonnie stepped closer to Damon, whose rising panic felt akin to a caged animal. His face was carefully blank, but there was no doubt that he absorbed the things Bonnie has said as if the words were water.

"Are you waiting for confirmation, Damon? Are waiting for me to dump you, and go running back to Stefan? You don't control this thing between us, and you don't control me. I'm sorry if you thought differently."

* * *

Damon sat in the dark because the light hurt his eyes. For the first time in a long while, he thought about hurting Bonnie. He wanted to see her cry and he wanted to see her heart bounce across the carpeting of her floor. He wanted her to wail with grief because she lost him. No one ever cries when he is gone, not even his brother.

Damon thought that he could slink to Bonnie's house right now and seduce Elena because it would hurt Bonnie. Sure, Elena would resist. She'd resist so hard, and there would be some tears squeezed out of her eyes when she'd open her legs and her mouth to let Damon in. Stefan wouldn't handle the portrayal, again. Here's hoping Stefan just might put Damon out of his misery and kill him.

Damon's back on Bonnie's doorstep when he realizes that what he is about to do is wrong. It is so terribly wrong. It's not the worst thing he's ever done to someone else, but it's possibly the worst thing he's done to himself.

Elena answers the door, awake now after taking a little nap in front of the television earlier. Damon turns on his most charming smile and he lets the intent show in his eyes and he brushes past Elena on his way inside the home.

Guiding him to the kitchen, Elena plays hostess: she offers him tea, or coffee, or a sandwich, even. She tells him that Bonnie has gone to bed because she was just so tired, "She's been working so hard, you know."

And Damon nods in agreement without really listening. (That's a lie. He's listening to Bonnie's steady heartbeat. The same heartbeat that he's listened to so many times, when Bonnie had long fallen asleep before he did, and Damon's still wide awake with a little of her blood pumping in his veins, and her sweet scent covering his skin).

Elena stops talking and stares intently at Damon like she's waiting for him to do something. He doesn't disappoint.

She moves and he moves with her until Elena's back hits the refrigerator and Damon's lips are inches away from her mouth. Damon tries to remember what Elena tastes like but all he can recall is the salty sweetness of Bonnie, his taste buds are burned alive with the memory.

Recognition flickers, but Elena still gasps, "What are you doing?," regardless.

"I'm kissing you...hopefully...if you stopped talking."

Elena places both her hands in the tight space between their bodies, "Bonnie?," Elena asks, like a question, like a plea.

"She's no fun anymore," Damon's throat hurts with the lie.

Elena thinks for a moment, and slides from under her arm, trips away from him. Looking at Damon used to remind her of sex and the forbidden and now looking at him makes her feel lonely, all weakness and regret. "Did you guys have a fight, or something?"

"Or something," Damon responds.

"You don't want to do this," Elena urges.

Damon challenges, "Why not?," daring Elena to come up with a reason to stop this downward spiral.

"You can't make her love you this way," Elena contends.

Damon sneers because he hates this. He hates that he has become such an open book. Elena has become the morality police so Damon leaves. He'll sink a drink, catch some action somewhere else and then come over in the morning, let Bonnie smell another woman on him. It's cruel, but she's not being fair.

* * *

The bar does it's job, it's good for a drink or two, but the woman in his arms is all wrong. He hasn't kissed her yet but he bets she won't taste right, either. Damon sinks his teeth in her neck for a meal, instead.

Damon returns to the Salvatore residence. He walks in to see Stefan sitting in the chair that Damon had just sat in a few hours ago. Damon makes a move to go straight upstairs because he doesn't want to deal with Stefan's expressionless face.

"Bonnie chose you, and you walk around as if she broke your heart," Stefan's voice pierces the quiet.

Damon stands where the stairs begin, and Stefan gets up to stand a few feet behind him.

"Is this another one of your speeches about responsibility, Stefan? Because the last one was enough to last me for a hundred years―"

Stefan interrupts, "If you fuck this up, you won't be able to blame me."

Damon's jaw clenches at the words.

* * *

Bonnie doesn't see Damon for a week. Her eyes feel like dry sand because she tears up much too often, and she's scrubbed her hands over her eyes a bit to roughly to make the wetness go away.

Elena tries to take Bonnie's mind off everything. They are just like regular human girls for once, since Bonnie can't use her powers.

Stefan comes around, wanting to show his support of her, in whatever Bonnie chooses to do.

Bonnie notices Elena's fingers slipping beneath Stefan's hand and intertwining with his fingers, and that make Bonnie happier than she expected.

Elena's sitting on the couch, plastered against Stefan's side when Bonnie decides to go for a walk.

Bonnie doesn't get further than the porch, when she feels a steel hand close around her mouth and another tight grip on her throat. A voice says,"Shhhh." Bonnie couldn't scream if she wanted to.

Stefan gets an anxious feeling in his chest when he stops hearing Bonnie's footing down the porch steps. He wonders what has stopped Bonnie in her tracks.

Stefan orders Elena to stay put where she is, and ventures out side.

The man holding Bonnie in his arms greets Stefan as kindly as he can, "You aren't exactly the Salvatore I was looking for, but you will do."

* * *

Damon has some flowers in his hands; the flowers are fresh and beautiful, and they remind him of his own stupidness. The whole world is so boring and annoys the hell out of him. He'll suck it up, because he started the fight in the first place. He'll suck it up, because one more night without Bonnie is just too much to ask of himself. Damon will tell Bonnie that he is sorry, and he will mean it.

Damon stops his inner thoughts when he sees a bereft Elena out side the home, looking as if she just lost her best friend, looking as if she just lost her lover.

"He took them. He took both of them," Elena says, eyes swimming with tears.

Damon drops the flowers he's holding.


	7. Chapter 7

**I would like to thank all of the readers who have supported this fic. **

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**Chapter Seven**

Elena keeps talking; she keeps telling him what happened over and over again, as if she were convincing herself, somehow.

After the fourth time, Damon could listen no longer. There was a large presence overcrowding his brain. It was as if all of his senses were dulled. He felt like the lonely bastard he always knew he was.

Elena wants to know what happens next: How do they get Bonnie back? How do they get Stefan back?

Elena was looking for Damon to be the bad ass he liked everyone to assume he was.

The difficulty of this situation made his teeth ache, made his borrowed blood boil, and he could imagine the amount of rising panic and despair in Elena.

And all the while, she keeps asking him, "What are we going to do?" The bitch of it was, Damon had no idea.

* * *

"You are a truly remarkable specimen, Stefan. I've heard about you and your brother, but I had no idea," Michael, the vampire who had captured Bonnie and Stefan said, carrying on as if he was having a normal conversation, under normal circumstances.

The other vampires who surrounded them held closed-off expressions, the coldest they could muster. It unnerved Bonnie. She has encountered vampires before and many of them seemed to want to hold on to whatever made them human. They were so emotional, sometimes.

The vampires surrounding Bonnie and Stefan seemed to revel in how far from human they were. The chill in their eyes, the cold calculation, the practicality. It was clear that the vampires would not be swayed by emotion. They have forgotten the definition of the word.

The only one who seemed to have any personality was Michael. Such long, dark hair, such green eyes, such a handsome face; It was a pity that Bonnie vowed to destroy all of that the minute she got out of there.

"You," Michael first pointing to Bonnie, then, "and you," referring to Stefan, "are going to create such a wonderful thing. Something that would knock those smug bastards off their pedestal. Humans; they walk around so content with their role at the top of the food chain. That will change. You two will help the world change." Michael's eyes sparkled as he said this, as if he could almost see the future, he could almost taste the decline and fall of humanity.

Bonnie and Stefan were tied to a large beam in the center of what looked like an expansive attic, arms raised above their heads.

Stefan was shirtless, and shoeless, the only remaining article of clothing were his black jeans. Stefan struggled, the muscles in his arms tensing repeatedly. Stefan looked upward, willing the binds around his wrists to break.

Bonnie was in a similar state of undress, even more so. Only a set of black bra and panties covered her. Bonnie thought, deliriously 'at least my underwear matches'. She thought of Damon, and how much he always liked what she had on. She let herself hang limply from her binds at the thought.

Stefan thought about the last time he was in such a predicament. Michael didn't seem interested in torturing them, though.

Michael wanted Bonnie and Stefan, the Bennett and the Salvatore, to put the world out of its stale misery.

* * *

It has been forty-eight hours, and Damon is in denial for the most part. It's not as if he had a vampire posse he could go to to help him save his brother and his girlfriend. He had Elena, who was useless in her grief. Elena seemed ready to jump into anything, though, all she needed was guidance.

Damon leaves Elena alone at Bonnie's home. He doesn't think that this is the smartest idea but he has to get away from her forlorn face, and her eyes that scream "do something!" every time he looks at her.

For some reason, Damon thought that this should hurt worse. He has all but put up a wall around his feelings.

When he arrives, the Salvatore residence is a buzzing sort of quiet that would make a regular person want to commit suicide.

He can't feel anything. He can't feel Stefan upstairs cursing their very existence. Stefan's not there.

In his bedroom, he can't recognize any smell besides his own expensive cologne. Bonnie's sundress peeks from under his bed. He remembers when she left it there weeks ago when she had stayed over. She was in no hurry to get it back as if she had all the time in the world. All the dress does is remind him that he no longer has the woman who wore it.

Damon walks around the house some more because he doesn't know what else to do. Damon nearly falls down the stairs when the immense guilt of what an asshole he's been crashes down on him.

* * *

Michael watches as Stefan refuses blood from any human source. It fascinating, really. Stefan seems to enjoy starving himself. Michael suggests an animal because as interesting as it is, Michael needs him alive.

Bonnie refuses food for a while, too. He looks at her and he knows that she wants so badly to use her powers, but doing so would mean breaking her promise to the Dark Covenant, and it would also move her a step closer to fulfilling the prophecy.

There is roughly two weeks and 3 days left to the Month of Merriment. Whether Bonnie and Stefan like it or not, they will comply with his wishes. He will make them.

Michael intended on releasing the two once Bonnie was with child but he thought better of it, now. He is going to keep Stefan because he likes the fight in Stefan's body. He likes the pure hatred that radiates from Stefan whenever Michael is in the room. It's intoxicating.

The first time Michael tried to force the two captives to engage in anything remotely sexual, Stefan spit in his face.

But Michael knows desire when he sees it. Stefan clearly wanted Bonnie, and despite protest from both parties, their attraction for each other was evident.

Everything in Stefan's body throbbed with the need to take her. He knew, he fucking knew with absolute certainty that doing so would hurt so many people. How could the feel of her body pressed against his compare to what it would do to his relationship with Damon? How could the taste of her lips and skin compare to the billions of people put at risk if Bonnie conceived from their joining? How could he look at Elena and tell her that her love doesn't matter to him? There was no way.

Michael knew what it was, of course. Some misplaced loyalty to his brother. "You're worried about the elder Salvatore, how sweet," Michael said this as if it was anything but heart warming. "You think that Damon would hate you. You needn't worry, he probably already does hate you."

He watched Stefan's eyes flare, and at the moment, Michael realizes that the Salvatore sibling rivalry ran deeper than he thought.

* * *

Damon awakens suddenly, his eyes sticky with self-loathing and murky moisture. The copper taste of blood is on his tongue along with what must have been a full bottle of bourbon. It's confirmed when Damon rolls out of bed and a bottle crashes to the ground. Damon's feet steps in shattered glass, and it's not by accident. Pain shoots from his bare feet to his spine and he feels like he deserves it.

The only messages on his phone are from Elena. There is nothing from Bonnie reminding him to bring the wine for dinner. There is nothing from Stefan giving him some stern warning about some nonsense thing.

Elena looks horrible when he arrives to Bonnie's home and he could tell she's just itching to ask where he's been the whole night. She doesn't question him, though. Instead, she wants to know their next move, and the buzzing starts in Damon's head.

He doesn't know how to tell Elena that he can't find his brother, after years of doing that very thing. It used to be that no matter how much time has past, he could find his brother anywhere in the world. He doesn't know how to explain to the girl that there is this thing in his brain that makes him want to throw up whenever he tries to think about Bonnie; the disgust of how he thought about betraying her all because she told him he was being a jerk.

Damon is experiencing the vampiric equivalent of a panic attack.

Elena hates the numbness effecting Damon. She see the vacant air about him, and it makes her want to pick up the nearest coffee mug and bash him in the face.

Damon hears a noise that's too low for Elena's ears and he runs up to Bonnie's bedroom, leaving Elena sputtering behind him.

A young woman is sitting on Bonnie's bed and Damon's instantly so sick of these Dark Covenant bastards.

Damon grabs the offending spectre and removes her from Bonnie's bed. The nearest wall is good enough for Damon to slam her against it, plaster and paint creaking under the pressure. Steel fingers close around the young woman's throat. Damon doesn't want this one to die right away, he wants her to hurt.

"Please...Stop...I'm here to help," the gasped words not registering with Damon for twenty-three seconds. Damon let's go abruptly and the woman's feet finally touch the floor again.

"Start talking," Damon urges between sharp teeth without looking at the woman. Looking at her makes him want to choke her again.

"I'm Danicka," she says like it is suppose to mean something. Damon raises an eyebrow at that because as far as he is concerned, Danicka is no better than other Dark Covenant minions.

"'The Dark Covenant is working on locating your girlfriend and your brother. Michael, the man who took them, is very good at hiding in plain sight. We intend to contact you when we find them. Michael won't do anything harmful to them. He needs them," Danicka finishes saying quickly.

Damon whorls around to demand that they hurry the fuck up, but Danicka has already disappeared.

Damon tells Elena all that he knows. Elena's not comfortable with letting the Dark Covenant handle this situation. Neither is Damon.

* * *

Damon goes to a club where all the kids want to be vampires. First, he asks them nicely, wanting to know if they knew someone matching the description of Michael that Elena gave him. They all pretend not to know anything.

Damon asks them again, a command in his voice and the compulsion yields better results. They don't know where he lives but they know where he hangs out.

Upon returning home for the night, something stilled within Damon. The buzzing in his head faded a little, and Damon thought of the future. The next time he saw Bonnie, he will tell her he loves her. Damon didn't care if he has to be the one to say it first. He will tell her he loves her and it is the only promise he's allowed to make.

Something that felt alot like hope settled in his chest.


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to everyone who reads and reviews my stories.**

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**Chapter Eight**

"I will be seeing your brother soon, I am sure."

Michael sat in front of a gaunt looking Stefan, seemingly unfazed by Stefan's lack of attention on him.

Stefan seemed unfocused. He kept pulling on the chains around his hands and feet.

Michael had ordered for Bonnie and Stefan to be removed from their earlier positions of being bound to a large beam. Although Michael didn't mind the sight of their bodies stretched and quaking, Michael thought it must have been tiring to keep that position.

Stefan was now sitting on the floor, close to the wall, chained to an unmovable object. Stefan could only move a few feet ahead of him before being stopped in his path by the chains.

Bonnie was in a near-by room, in the same predicament.

Michael delighted in one-sided conversation, "He has this delusion that he will swoop down and save you and Bonnie. You and I both know that Damon's only worried about his precious Bonnie; he doesn't give a damn about what happens to you. You know that, don't you?"

Michael continued, "How do you do it? How do you live with someone who wishes you were never born?"

Stefan shakes his head, simultaneously disagreeing with Michael and clearing his mind.

"No, you don't think so, Stefan?," Michael asked towards Stefan's shaking head.

Stefan mumbled something along the lines of "we always save each other", or "we never let each other die", Michael couldn't be sure, exactly.

Michael stood up, saying one more thing before departing, "When you impregnate Bonnie, and you will, there is no doubt, you will have to think about what you plan to do with the rest of your life. Do you really want to live under your brother's rule?"

* * *

Damon and Elena stood outside DEKKADANSE, a nightclub patronized by vampires and living, breathing vampire meals. It was lambs volunteering for the slaughter.

Damon could not keep Elena from wanting to go with him. He wanted to keep her safe, and he couldn't do that if she insisted on being stupid.

The two entered the club. Loud music blared, and bodies withering together as if they were trying to merge into one.

Damon may have enjoyed this if he had his brother and girlfriend safe at home.

Elena seemed a little awed. The idea that Mystic Falls has nightlife totally escaped her.

Damon wasted no time looking for the ever elusive Michael.

Damon never saw such a hungry crowd. Vampires looking hungrily at the exposed necks, arms, legs and bellies of the dancing humans. Humans looking hungrily at the monsters who wanted to use them. Did Damon look this hungry when he lost his cool? Did he look this weak?

Elena stood near the bar, vervain pumping in her veins along with the music. Anyone expecting to take a little nip of Elena would get a big surprise.

"Is this who Stefan sees when he dreams?"

Elena whipped her head around to follow the voice and found herself face to face with Michael.

"Where are Stefan and Bonnie?"

"Do you care?"

"Of course I care?," Elena seemed disgusted that Michael would think differently.

"Well now it's just you and Damon, and I would think you would be happy about that."

"You're sick."

"I'm sick? The Salvatore brothers have been perverting love for years, and you have fit right in with you're constant need to be the center of someone's attention."

"Where are they?," an edge crept into Elena's voice, and she was tired of Michael's little speech.

Michael regarded her for a moment, seeing her with new eyes, "I can't wait tell you are turned into a vampire. There is strength, behind your eyes. You may not be as powerful as Bonnie when she's turned, but you'll be a force."

Elena blanched, "What have you done to Bonnie?"

"I didn't do anything. I have no doubt that whenever Damon manages to find Bonnie, he'll want to ensure that she never leaves him. He's selfish in that way. Enjoy the rest of the night."

Michael seemed to vanish before Elena's eyes.

* * *

"Are you looking for me?," Michael asks before grabbing Damon by the throat and lifting him high.

Damon does something useless, his hands clutching and scraping at Michael's iron wrist.

There's a sickening crunch, and Damon's vocal cords collapses under Michael's fingers.

Michael throws Damon to the ground and kneels beside the injured vampire.

"So this is Damon Salvatore. I have to say, you are not quite what I expected. Your presence is a little disappointing, I'm afraid. But you are young, you'll get better."

Earlier, Damon had ventured to a small room at the back of the club. He didn't think he would catch Michael by surprise, but he didn't think Michael would catch him either.

"Please, don't try to talk. I'm really not interested in hearing you demand me tell you Bonnie and Stefan's whereabouts. I got enough of that from Elena."

At the mention of Elena, Damon moves to get up, but is stopped by Michael's knee grinding into his stomach cavity.

"Are you still going to love Bonnie when her belly swells with your brother's child?"

"Fuck you!"

"No, thank you. Although, your brother is quite appealing."

Damon struggles again, and Michael's knee finds itself at home in Damon's guts.

"You misunderstand me. I don't want to hurt anyone. I just feel that it is my duty to see to it that destiny is fulfilled. It is selfish of you to feel otherwise, Damon."

Damon was unable to talk when he took Elena home. His stomach still ached with the phantom pressure of Michael's knee.

* * *

Bonnie wouldn't talk to anyone. Michael thought that her vow of silence was cute if not a little infuriating.

Michael was losing time. A week remained in the month of Merriment. Michael stepped up his attempts at forcing Stefan and Bonnie to procreate.

One particular incident involved tying Bonnie to what looked like a large wooden cutting board. Her hands above her head, her feet splayed apart. She was tied fast and tight, no matter how much she moved.

Michael thought it would be nice to dress her in a short, little slip, thinking that half the excitement would be in tearing it off her.

Stefan was brought in, and Michael forced the younger Salvatore unto his knees, eyes leveled with the board.

Stefan averted his gaze because he could see under Bonnie's slip. She was naked underneath, no one bothered to give her underwear.

Michael grabbed Stefan by the short but thick strands of hair, "Don't turn away! Look! Look!," returning Stefan's attention to the naked skin under the slip.

Michael continued, "Don't tell me you don't miss that."

Stefan still resisted. Taking Bonnie in this way is as close to rape as he'd ever get.

"If the shoe were on the other foot, do you seriously think Damon would hesitate? Don't be weak, Stefan. Show some strength for once."

Bonnie started to cry and the whole idea was aborted. Michael wasn't that much of a monster, and it would be no good watching Bonnie blubber throughout. Bonnie and Stefan had to enjoy it.

They had to give in.

* * *

**A/N: It's short, I know but real life gets in the way. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks to all of the individuals who have been entertained at some point by my writing.**

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**Chapter Nine**

"Okay, here is the first plan," Damon explained, pacing back and forth in the Salvatore living-room, swigging type O-negative from a coffee cup, his movements dizzying a startled Elena.

"We get his ring, cut off his finger or something, and then we drag him out into the sun."

"How do you propose we do that?," Elena asks, her forehead marked with incredulity.

"I'm not sure yet," Damon says, squinting his eyes as if thinking.

"Second plan: we decapitate him. It's not like he could grow another head." Damon considers for a brief moment. "On second thought, we'll decapitate him, and then set him on fire."

"We aren't going to wait for the Dark Covenant? The last time you met Michael, it didn't go so well," Elena reminded.

"Elena, the Dark Covenant is full of shit. They are dragging their feet, which tells me one thing: They don't care what happens to Bonnie or Stefan. They never cared, obviously."

"But they were so concerned about her having a child," Elena suggested, confused at the Covenant's lack of intervention.

"That's what I don't get. That is what I can't figure out. Not too long ago, they were trying to kill me to make sure nothing like that happened. It makes no sense."

Both Elena and Damon fall into silence. Neither can pretend to understand the workings of the Dark Covenant, but clearly, Elena and Damon are on their own.

"Are there any locating spells in Bonnie's books?," Damon asks after a moment.

"Even if there were, I wouldn't know what to do with it."

"This is Mystic Falls, there has to be a witch around here, somewhere," with that, Damon turned to leave.

"Damon," Elena called before Damon left the room, "Do you know what you're doing?"

"I have no fucking clue."

* * *

"You would have to be the best consolation prize I've ever met. You just so happen to be the most valuable second pick," Michael taunts, his new nickname for her being, 'Bonnie "Second Choice" Bennett.'

"Doesn't it bother you that Damon and Elena are finding solace in each other arms in your absence? I assume that Damon's always loved her first, she looks so much like Katherine, after all. You don't seem concerned."

Bonnie supposed that she should be outraged. She should be insulted, but she wasn't. Michael may have an understanding of the surface issues of her life, but Bonnie would not make Michael's attempt at getting inside her head an easy task. She learned something from sparring with Damon, "I don't know what you want me to say."

"What do I want you to say? You haven't really shown that much emotion. Held captive, stolen from the life you've been living, you haven't panicked once. The only time you do get upset is with Stefan. Does the prospect of making love to Stefan horrify you so much?"

"It doesn't. It's just not something I want."

"Who told you that you are in a position to want anything?"

"I'm still alive aren't I?"

"Did anyone ever tell you that you talk too much for such a pretty girl?"

"I've been told that once or twice."

Michael laughed at that. Bonnie was something to behold.

"What makes you so bold, sweet little witch?"

"It's the way I am. Whatever you do to me doesn't matter anyway, you're running out of time."

Michael's smile dropped, wiped clean at the words.

* * *

"I haven't done many spells. I've done some locator spells but that was for car keys that I lost," said Anna, the witch Elena managed to find.

"Keys," Damon repeated, seriously under whelmed, his voice inching close to frustration.

"Where did you find this one, Elena?," Damon mumbles out of the side of his mouth.

"She was the only one who actually had some type of results with her craft. The other witches I have been able to find are just starting out. Besides, the only other powerful witch besides Bonnie was Belle."

"Well, let's not give that dead bitch a second thought," Damon responded.

Damon clutched Bonnie's sundress in his hands, squeezing the dress before placing it in front of Anna. Elena gently lays Stefan's wristwatch next to the dress.

"I want you to find the owner of these items," Damon says one-third plea, two-thirds command.

"I can't do it by touch. I'm not a natural. Um, I can do a spell?," Anna says, or rather, asked as if seeking permission.

"That's fine," Damon replied.

Anna did some mumbo jumbo that Damon didn't even pretend to be interested in. Elena seemed shaky, like she wanted this to work but she wasn't sure it would.

Anne recites Latin phrases, and they don't sound like anything important and it is here Damon notices the stark difference between Bonnie, and this woman. Bonnie is full of confidence, full of power and Damon is excited whenever he sees Bonnie use her gift. It's truly a frighteningly beautiful thing to watch.

Anna gasps suddenly, closed eyes flying open, "I've found them."

* * *

Michael realized, a little too late that he was going about this the wrong way. He kept Bonnie and Stefan separate from the other, minimizing contact between the two. He choose to unite them.

Stefan immediately wraps his arms around her, as much as the bindings would allow him. Bonnie is grateful for the comfort. She has had some idea of how difficult it has been for him. Stefan needs this reassuring touch as much as she does.

Michael smiles at the shared embrace, as if he has won already. Michael doesn't seem to understand friendship or intimacy. Everything is lust and perversion to him. "I'll leave you two alone."

Stefan looked her over as if checking for damage, his hands following her skin where his eyes have looked.

Stefan took Bonnie in his arms once again, pressing his face close to hers.

"Are you okay?," Stefan asks, whispering close to her ear.

"I'm okay," Bonnie responds, leaning into Stefan' body, trying to align her frame along his.

Bonnie wore an inexpensive white cotton t-shirt, and jean cut-offs. Stefan was shirtless, a pair of blue jeans, lighter than he would normally wear, covers his lower half.

The thought that Michael would send someone out to buy clothing for them was creepy and completely uncharacteristic of a typical villain. Then again, Michael has displayed nothing but a strange hospitality; Bonnie and Stefan were allowed to eat, bathe, and be alone with their thoughts, uninterrupted unless it was to force them into a sexual situation.

"You know if I could help it, I would never hurt you."

Bonnie is taken aback by Stefan's statement. Stefan said it like he wasn't sure where the thought came from either, but it was terribly important that Bonnie knew he did not want to hurt her.

Bonnie peers into Stefan's face, and he averts his gaze. Stefan seems guilty, and Bonnie can't comprehend why. Stefan hasn't done anything to warrant such feelings.

"Whatever Michael is saying to you… he's twisting everything but you know the truth," Bonnie assures.

Stefan presses his lips against her face and confides, "I'm easier to break than you are."

* * *

Damon and Elena stand in broad daylight, outside of a large house, It's old but well kept, and no doubt there was some human behind the door who had been compelled against inviting unfamiliar people inside the home.

Damon speaks first, breaking the silence, "You do know that there are vampires crawling all over the house."

"I know," Elena responds.

"Are you nervous?"

"Are you?," Elena rebuffs.

"No. Bonnie is in there. Stefan is in there," Damon says, as if listing the people he love in its entirety is tiring.

"I'm ready," Elena says because she's doesn't have the words that would help any event over the past weeks make sense.

"How much do you love my brother?," Damon asks because he needs to know if the inevitable is worth it to Elena.

Without a trace of hesitation, Elena answers, "I love him more than anything."

Damon states, simply, "You might die for him today."

Gazing at the highest windows of the house, Elena responds, "I know."

* * *

**A/N: Some seem to have a preconceived notion about where the story is going. First and foremost, it is a Bamon story. I can't stress that enough. I will repeat what I wrote to another reviewer: There has to be some sort of strife and threat in the story, because if everything was peaceful then I would get complaints about it being boring. What I am trying to establish is that Stefan and Bonnie are faced with temptation, and the goal is for them to follow their heart and to be true to the people they claim to love. Stefan and Bonnie have not done anything inappropriate despite Michael's prompting. That proves something. I would never sell out the characters I like in that way. I can't discuss future aspects of the story, because what would be the point in writing it. All I can say is that If Bonnie wanted Stefan and not Damon, it wouldn't take being captured to suddenly realize she wants him instead of Damon. I respect peoples opinion, but I urge that you keep reading before making any sort of conclusions**.


	10. Chapter 10

**I would like to thank everyone who has read and reviewed my stories.**

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**Chapter Ten**

**[Three Days Later]**

Bonnie startled awake, heart beating erratically, the bones of her ribs not strong enough to cage the throbbing.

Damon never could relax enough to close his eyes in the first place; Bonnie's rough awakening prompted the arms that were already wrapped around her to tighten, holding Bonnie back from whatever was in her mind, keeping her anchored to the bed that the two shared.

Bonnie kept seeing the fire. She kept seeing Michael's smirking face aflame, the heat charring Michael's handsome visage.

Bonnie knew she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep so she didn't even bother. She pulled away from Damon, his touch only furthering the madness crawling around in her mind.

Damon didn't say anything as she pulled away. What could he say to make Bonnie feel safe?

Bonnie walks silently to Elena's room, not wanting to disturb her if there is a chance that the girl is sleeping.

Elena's not asleep, though. She's in the same predicament as Bonnie. She keeps replaying everything in her mind

_ /The time it takes for Damon and Elena to walk to the front door is forty-six seconds. It's just that close. _

_ Elena knocks three times before someone answers the door._

_ "Hello," says the hallowed looking woman who answers the door._

_ "Hi. My car broke down, and I was wondering if you could let me use your phone," Elena fibbed._

_ "I am not supposed to let anyone in," the woman remarked, words sounding rehearsed from the moment they left her mouth._

_ "Please, it'll only take a moment. We really do not want to be stranded out here. My friend and I will be out of your way."_

_ The ruse works so well. Elena doesn't even blink when Damon snaps the woman's neck./_

Bonnie comes inside the room, and sits on the bed beside Elena. It frustrates her that she can't help Elena sleep.

Bonnie has yet for her powers to be restored. The food that Michael and his minions fed to her was laced with something to keep her powers dormant.

"You keep thinking about it." It was more of a question than a statement, and Bonnie didn't need to see Elena's wordless nod to know that none of them could think about anything else but the events of the past seventy-two hours.

"How is your hand?"

Elena glanced down as if she has completely forgotten about it. White gauze covered her left hand, hiding the raw, pink flesh underneath. She had burned herself reaching for Stefan.

"It's okay, I guess. I can't really feel anything."

Elena had a sudden spark of irrational anger. Bonnie shouldn't be mothering her. Elena should be the one making sure that Bonnie is well.

But it is so easy to slip back into selfishness. It would be so easy to let Bonnie take care of her.

"Don't worry about it," Bonnie says, as if she had been reading Elena's mind the whole time.

* * *

**[A Week Later]**

If anyone were to ask, Bonnie would have gladly insisted that the Month of Merriment was more like the Month of Hell.

Bonnie's stomach rolled at the thought of what Michael tried to accomplish.

_/Flames licked racing across the wooden floor boards creating a fiery barrier between Bonnie and Michael._

_"Why is it so hard for you to understand? You will not get another chance to continue your Bennett line. You will die with nothing to show for it."/_

Bonnie sipped tea in the kitchen, and it occurred to her that everything bothered her about her life.

Michael's black and gold ring lies next to on the counter, next to a jar that should have held cookies. She didn't know when not having cookies in a cookie jar began to bother her. She didn't know when keeping blood in the refrigerator started to disgust her.

"Hey," Elena greeted, walking into the kitchen. "How are you feeling?," Elena asks for the first time today.

Bonnie is not sure how to answer, so she sips her tea, and remains silent. A part of her is annoyed by Elena's presence at this moment.

"I'm going to see Stefan. Do you want to come?" Elena's invitation was only half-hearted.

"No," Bonnie answered, a frown marring her face. Seeing Stefan was the last thing she wanted to do. Bonnie could not pinpoint when exactly it was that the thought of Stefan made her skin crawl.

Elena left, and there was an overwhelming sense of relief.

Bonnie went into her living room to read. But, the novel's words didn't register. It seemed as if she read the same page over and over again.

Her attempt at reading failed, and Bonnie thought that she should at least make herself something to eat but she had no appetite. She hadn't felt hunger all day long.

After a few hours, Damon arrives, a guarded smile on his face.

Bonnie wanted to use her powers right this instant. Bonnie's magic returned slowly, but Bonnie was saving her powers. She wanted to make the biggest impact she could when the time was right.

But in this instant, Bonnie wanted to use an incantation that would keep Damon from strolling in whenever he wanted, as if he owned the place. Bonnie was at once horrified at her own thoughts. Seeing Damon used to make her so happy.

"Have you eaten yet?" Damon asked, but Bonnie couldn't stop her mind from going so fast.

Damon made her afraid, she wanted him gone.

Damon stepped closer to her, and Bonnie moved out of her reach. He looked like a predator to her.

Sensing Bonnie's fear, Damon grabs her forearms, holding her carefully. Bonnie has always been petite, but she seems smaller, now, skinnier. Damon can't recall watching her eat a full meal over the past few days.

Damon's hands don't soothe her as they once did. Bonnie panics, "Please, don't touch me." There was no force behind the words.

"What's wrong?," Damon's face was blank, not wanting to show the concern he was feeling.

"I just don't want to be touched right now."

Damon thought that Bonnie's behavior was a complete turnaround from when Bonnie and Stefan were first rescued.

_/Bonnie couldn't press any tighter to Damon if she wanted to. She seemed afraid to let go. Damon should have felt horrible for making love to her, but she needed this more than anything. Damon had the presence of mind to use a condom, the thin barrier doing nothing to shield him from Bonnie's heat. _

_It was all touch tone system after that. Mouth open and wet against his collar bone, tongue peeking out every so often to swipe against the coolness of Damon's skin, nails dragging across his shoulder blades. _

_Damon missed this: the curve of her breast in her hands, her legs encircling, the heels of her feet grinding into his lower back, Bonnie's forehead hot against his shoulder. Damon can't remember when he's come so hard./_

"Nothing feels right," Bonnie disturbs Damon's reverie with that simple statement.

"What can I do?," Damon is not used to feeling such helplessness.

"I want you to leave," Bonnie didn't recognize her own voice. Damon would never understand what was driving her to say these things.

To Damon, Bonnie was another person. After a few days of not wanting Damon to leave her side, it seemed as if she could not get far enough away. Bonnie had begun requesting that Damon not spend the night with her. He could perceive that Bonnie wanted some space, but Damon missed her too much. Being away from her felt painful.

"You want me to leave?," disbelief lacing Damon's question.

"I don't know what I want. I just..." Bonnie trailed off. How could she explain this sudden fear?

Damon moved closer. This was a mistake, he knew. Bonnie was not feeling like herself, Damon should not make her any more uncomfortable than she already was.

Bonnie observes Damon's movement, and she in turn, places more space between them.

"Bonnie, you have to tell me what's wrong." Damon hated that he sounded so weak. Damon wanted to appear nonthreatening, he could tell that Bonnie was afraid. But he also wanted to grab her, shake her, and tell her to snap out of it because his patience was running thin.

He missed their banter, the fact that he could tease her mercilessly and she wouldn't even blink; she'd playfully insult him, or ignore him, which was, sometimes, the best way to get back at him.

The woman in front of him was not his little witch. She was more like a frighten child.

"Why were you here that night?," the suddenness of the question like whiplash.

"What night?," Damon responded.

"Remember you asked me about Stefan, and we had this stupid argument, and you came back. I heard Elena talking to someone, you came back, didn't you?"

"I wanted to talk to you. Elena said you were asleep." Damon lied, easily.

"You wanted to apologize?"

Damon blinked slowly, "I don't think I did anything wrong," responding cautiously.

"No. I suppose you didn't. It's not a crime to be insecure."

Damon flinched at the word 'insecure.' It never occurred to him that he was behaving as if he didn't have all the confidence in the world, "Why are we talking about this now?"

"It's just something Michael said." Bonnie paced around Damon, circling him almost. "Michael seemed to think putting me in the same room with Stefan would magically make us want to have sex. The logic is faulty but I suppose it would make a twisted sort of sense."

"Michael is a pile of dust. All of his asinine ideas have followed him."

"Did you think I would sleep with Stefan, too?"

"No," Damon lied. He lied more than once in the past ten minutes.

"I just want to be normal again."

"I'll make you dinner, you eat it, and I'll complain about Stefan and the kissy-faces that he and Elena make at each other. We'll have a good laugh," Damon was thankful for the distraction. He did not like where the conversation was going.

"No. I mean, I want normal, without you."

"You still want me to leave?," Damon scoffed.

"Maybe you could do what you were planning to do that night. I'm sure you can find some girl who will go home with you."

Bonnie stared at the door a long while after Damon left, its frame still shaking with the force of Damon's retreat.

She had this stupid idea that she could run after him, she could tell him that she didn't meant a word of it.

She could tell him that she loves him. She's been dying to say that to him.

She thought it would be easier; if she could distance herself from Damon, Elena, and Stefan, than it would be easier.

So Bonnie recalls the times when she was afraid of the Salvatores. She recalls the times when she distrusted Elena. She recalls those times and she holds onto them because if she remembers that she loves Damon, if she remembers that Stefan and Elena mean so much to her, than there is no way in hell she can go throw with this.

"It's for the beast. They would have died trying to save you from the inevitable."

Bonnie didn't turn towards the owner of that voice, knowing it all too well without having to take a look.

Michael walked calmly into the kitchen, sliding behind the counter to pick up his ring. Michael twisted the ring onto his finger, and casts a glance at Bonnie, who still wouldn't face him.

Michael could not stand her inattentiveness, "Look at me Bonnie.

Bonnie didn't think she could turn around, even with his urging.

"Look at me!," Michael repeated, his once contained voice rose, betraying his impatience.

Bonnie finally followed Michael's direction, and looked at the splintered skin, the seared, burnt flesh almost falling off the cheek bones. The scarring still looked so fresh despite it taking place a week and a half ago.

"You don't like looking at your lover's handy work. No matter now, it won't change anything."

Michael claps his hands together, once, and commands, "Come, let us pick out something nice to bury you in."

Bonnie had made peace with the fact that she was going to die tonight. But she was taking Michael with her.

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**Author's Note: I feel like I should assure everyone that there will be some sort a happy ending, before anyone has a heart attack about this chapter****.**** Also****,**** in future fics, Bonnie will not be so self-sacrificing, and Damon will stop being such a wimp (although to be quite honest, Damon never really has the will power to be anything but a wimp when he falls in love. He's sometimes stupid, and his ****mas macho**** goes out the window)****.**** And Michael will die finally. Thanks for reading. **


	11. Chapter 11

**Thanks to everyone who decided my work was interesting enough to read.**

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**Author's Note: Some fluff exists after the blah blah blah, evil vamp bites the dust, blah blah, blah.**

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**Chapter Eleven**

Elena wasn't expecting Damon to return so soon. She thought that she could get a little more time alone with Stefan. She relished in having Stefan's hands on her body; the rush of breath against her ear, Stefan whispering things that only she could know, only she could understand.

Life was so short, even vampiric life, it seemed. It made no sense for Stefan to keep denying himself the simple pleasure of being with Elena.

"You're...early," Elena commented.

Damon seemed too contained in his own head to have heard Elena.

"Something is wrong with Bonnie," Damon blurts out.

Catching the tail-end of the small conversation, Stefan appeared, and asked, "What's wrong with Bonnie?"

"She told me to leave," Damon responded, still distracted by whatever he was thinking.

"She kicked you out?," Elena really couldn't have interpreted what she was hearing, could she? She had to be mistaken.

"She told me she wanted me gone."

"Did she say those exact words?," Stefan asked, as if he couldn't believe that Damon had gotten Bonnie's message right. Damon was known to exaggerate.

"I know what she meant," Damon defended. "She didn't want me around."

Elena tried to help as best as she could, "Bonnie has been under a lot of stress. She wants to be alone sometimes."

"She made it seem like it was final, or something. It was like she didn't want to be with me anymore―"

"I don't believe that," Stefan interrupted, stealing the thought right out of Elena's mind.

"Why not? It's not like I'm you," Damon's bitterness arose.

"She loves you," Elena implored.

"She loves me?" Damon squinted, words sounding funny around the question. Damon wondered if Stefan was making Elena delusional.

"Yes. She been pushing me away too, and she hadn't visited Stefan at all since the fire. She's still dealing with everything." It was true, Elena noticed that Bonnie had begun pulling away from everyone to retreat within herself. Witches were allowed to be depressed sometimes.

"I don't have time to deal with Bonnie's version of PMS."

"You love her, right? So you deal with what ever you have to, because you love her. It's no worse than waiting for Katherine for a century. Bonnie's bad mood will pass." Stefan didn't think giving Damon a pep talk would work, but Damon seemed to be on the verge of doing something stupid like giving up on something good.

Damon ignored Stefan, as Stefan had expected him to, and appealed to Elena instead, "How do you know that Bonnie loves me."

Elena didn't know how she could go about explaining the way Bonnie looks at Damon when he's not paying attention, or the way Bonnie smiles whenever he is around. Or the simple fact that something as strong as love has to be the reason Bonnie tolerates Damon.

It is not as if Damon has always been on Bonnie's list of top favorite people. Elena is sure that she has been pretty low on the list at some point as well. Elena didn't want to explain all of this to Damon, because increasing Damon's self esteem is not worth the trouble of inflating his ego.

"I just know," Elena finally answered.

"That is reassuring," Damon's dry response does nothing to hide his grimace. This conversation was as uncomfortable for him as it was for Stefan and Elena.

"Well, you love her and I bet you anything that you haven't even told her yet. Stop being so closed-off with your feelings and maybe Bonnie would stop being the same way," Elena was fed up with Damon acting like the only wounded party in Mystic Falls.

"I should go back, try to get her to talk to me," Damon wasn't necessarily asking for anyone's permission, but he wanted to put the thought out there, to see if it sounded as ridiculous to everyone as it did to his own ears.

"Maybe you should give her some time," Elena insisted.

"No," Damon dismisses with a shake of his head, "something didn't feel right about the way she told me to leave."

"You can't force her to talk to you," Stefan added.

"I thought you would be proud of me, little brother, I'm not giving up."

* * *

Bonnie stood in her back yard, her eyes following Michael wherever he moved. Michael wouldn't make all of his plans for her clear, probably figuring that the less Bonnie knew, the better the chance that she wouldn't pull a rabbit out of her hat.

Too bad for Michael, Bonnie already had the rabbit ready to spring.

Bonnie couldn't figure out how Michael survived the fire. The rest of the vampires died, but Michael managed to escape.

Bonnie didn't remember the dress she was wearing until Michael pulled it from her closet. It was simple, it was silly, it was frivolous and Damon bought it because he thought it looked so beautiful against her skin.

It seemed like a romantic date, this thing happening between Michael and Bonnie. It would have been romantic but for the fact that the state of Michael's face didn't look as if one could stay alive with that kind of damage. The rest of his body had to be as awful.

"What are you waiting for?," Bonnie goaded.

"I just want to watch you. I want to see you, how alone you are, how no one will come and help you. It's satisfying."

"How am I going to die?"

"Now, that's an interesting question. I could rip out your throat, I could snap your neck, I could reach into your chest and pull out your heart. But before that bit of fun, you are going to restore my image."

"I don't know if I can do that."

"Sure you can. I'll even help," a familiar voice suggested.

Bonnie would like to say that she had gotten used to surprises, she was Damon Salvatore's inamorata after all, out at least she had been before she kicked him out. However, seeing Danicka appear, and as comfortable as she could be, made the already wild churning of Bonnie's stomach an outright stormy sea.

"I guess it's safe to say you weren't expecting me," a genuine smile gracing her face.

"You work for the Dark Covenant," Bonnie's disbelief clear in her voice and on her face.

"I still do. I'm kind of a double agent, if you will. I have to say, Damon and Elena were pretty smart to start that fire, it took care of a many vampires who were just going to end up being a thorn in the Dark Covenant's side."

Danicka paused to walk over to Michael, reaching her hand up to caress his ravaged visage in a loving manner, "But I couldn't let Michael die. He has been so good to me."

Bonnie didn't know whether to laugh, or cry, or vomit. She would likely do all in a moment.

"Don't look so hurt. I'm still loyal enough to you that I will not allow Michael to torture you. Your death will be quick. After you help me with Michael's appearance, of course."

Danicka was an unforeseen hitch in the plan, but Bonnie was not deterred. All that matters is that at the end of this, Michael will be dead, she was sure of it.

"Why would I help you, especially if you will just kill me anyway.?"

"Because I could go to where your little boyfriend is and kill him as easily," Michael responded.

"You could do that anyway, after I'm gone."

"I could, but I'm not a wasteful person. There would be no reason to kill Damon, except maybe for fun. But after your death, his eternal heartache would be just as tasty."

'If Damon still cared about me after I was such a bitch,' Bonnie thought.

Bonnie goes along with the plan, and all she could really hope for was that Michael meant it when he said he'd ripe out her throat. It was the only way her plan would work.

Bonnie followed Danicka's lead, and it became clear that Danicka has done such a spell before. Danicka's demon powers combined with Bonnie's powers was more than enough to make the incantation in the book that Danicka bought along with her work. Danicka also provided some necessary materials: animal skin, and blood looking to be the major ingredients.

Before Bonnie's eyes, Michael's face began to reconstruct it's self. Bonnie suspected that Michael still had damage to his face, and the most she and Danicka were able to do was create one hell of a glamour. Michael's real face would remain unseen unless someone were to undo the magic.

Michael must have been a vain son of a bitch to care so much about his appearance. It was not like he couldn't just compel one of his victims.

Michael's image blurs and suddenly he is right beside Bonnie, forcing her head back by the tight hold his hand has in her hair.

He walks the tip of his fingers lightly up her exposed neck, almost ticklish in nature, "I'm going to enjoy eating you."

Danicka's face clouded, a jealous anger beginning to form, "I thought you were going to kill her."

"I am darling, I just want a little taste."

Michael binds his mouth to brush up and down Bonnie's neck.

"Michael!," Danicka screeches.

"I'm not doing anything wrong, love. You know that you are the only woman for me. Until you ―"

"He liked his woman taller, more muscular, decidedly more male. Isn't that right Mikey?" Damon interrupted.

Damon accessed the scene for what it was: Danicka, evil bitch one; Michael, evil bitch two; and Bonnie, with whom he was going to have a very stern talk with about keeping things from him.

Michael sneered and pulled Bonnie's hair harder, "It makes no matter that you are here now. You get to watch me kill her."

Damon moved forward. Bonnie attempts to stop him, "Damon! Please don't do anything."

Listening wasn't exactly Damon's strong suit, and before Bonnie knows it, Danicka is crumpling to the ground, her body unable to support itself, neck and vertebrae collapsing under Damon's hands.

Michael doesn't seem perturbed, staring at Danicka's form he remarks, "You've done me a favor, actually. She was becoming too clingy. By the way, how is your brother doing?"

Before Damon could react, Bonnie formed a ring of fire surrounding her and Michael, preventing Damon from attacking.

"I suppose this is Bonnie's last attempt at preserving your safety, even if it means her death. How sweet," Michael finishes his sentence with a vicious bite, tearing into the tender flesh of Bonnie's neck."

"No!" Damon's shout ringing out through the night.

Michael victorious laughter turns into choking spasms. It wasn't vervain, Michael was sure of it, he would have smelled it from her a mile away. It was something else all together. Gasping, "You fucking, poisonous bitch," Michael continues to cough, black fluid erupting from deep within his bowels, his esophagus charred clean, his jaw decomposing, his heart melting from the hot, poisonous fluid.

The fire dies down to nothing as Bonnie lies unmoving on the grass. She would have been beautiful if not for the wet tackiness of her own blood covering her.

* * *

Damon really couldn't tell what time it was, and he really didn't care. The sun was coming up by now, so there was some indication that it was very late, or very early.

Elena hovered around, trying to make herself useful. Stefan tries to get Damon to eat something but Damon just stays in one place, kneeling next to Bonnie's still form.

Damon really didn't think it would work. Bonnie hadn't taken blood from him often, and it had been awhile since she had done anything of the sort.

Damon had forced the blood from his veins into her mouth in one go, pressing gently on her throat, forcing her to drink it all.

Damon kept reopening his wrist when the wound closed, he kept willing her to drink.

The first thing that Bonnie feels is a horrid burning from her sternum to her throat, like sandpaper against stubborn wood.

Bonnie sputters and gasps, and it only makes the burning worse. Bonnie believed that she had felt thirst before, on hot summer days. This thirst was the worst thing she's ever experienced.

Bonnie upper body thrust up into a sitting position, colliding against Damon, who reaches out to steady her against him.

* * *

Bonnie was afraid to indulge too much in human blood. She had this strange idea that she could get hooked on it like Stefan. She didn't want to end up like the vampires she hated, careless with human life.

It felt so weird to feed in front of Damon upon a, more or less, willing participant. She couldn't drink blood without feeling like some sort of charity case. And she always feels slightly embarrassed after feeding because she always wants more. She stops before the meal loses consciousness, and she not sure if it is because she has the will to stop, or because Damon makes her stop.

Gradually, Bonnie begins to hunt on her own, and it's only animals from that point on. Her powers of compulsion are unnervingly strong, without much effort, and Bonnie is very careful about suggesting anything to anyone.

Elena should be nervous about being surrounded by bunch of vampires, but she's always felt home among the strange and unusual.

* * *

**[A Year Later]**

"For along time, I thought you didn't feel anything,"

"What?," Damon mumbles against the nape of Bonnie's neck.

"I thought vampires didn't have any feelings. I thought maybe Stefan was the exception."

"What about me?"

"I wasn't sure what you felt. I thought you loved Katherine, but I assumed that was because of left over feelings from when you were human."

"Are you trying to tell me something?," Damon inquired.

Bonnie considered the question, a slice of cake resting on a little plate, not really eating the cake just licking off the frosting.

The two were celebrating what was supposed to be Bonnie's birthday.

"No, I'm just trying to make conversation."

"Are you doing that thing where you want to talk about "us", but you don't want me to know because the idea of discussing my feelings makes me insanely uncomfortable."

"Something like that," Bonnie turns around to face Damon, a smile tilting lips. Damon leans in to kiss the corner of her mouth.

"Don't distract me," Bonnie pulls away slightly, only to look closely at Damon's face, trying to decipher what he was thinking.

"I love you."

Damon squints at Bonnie's words, feeling like something bad might happen, "But?"

"No buts. I love you. It's not like I haven't said it before."

This was true. Bonnie has said it many times. Damon hasn't said the three words quite as often, but he shows her how he feels, and that has to be just as important. Maybe Damon was just projecting his own nervousness onto Bonnie.

Damon covers Bonnie's mouth with his own, kissing her deeply and thoroughly, his hands holding her head in place.

"I love you, too," Damon whispers against Bonnie's lips.

Still framing her face in his hands, "I think you should open your present," Damon insists.

"I didn't want anything."

Damon lets go of Bonnie and pulls out a small velvet box. Bonnie's hand shakes as she opens the box.

Inside, is an 18kt pink gold Bulgari pendant with pavé diamonds.

"Oh... it's beautiful. I just thought..."

"You thought what?," Damon asked, a smirk plastered to his face.

"Nothing. It's beautiful."

"I don't need a ring to tell you that I want to be with you forever. But I'll get you one if you want."

Bonnie smiled ruefully, "Just shut up, and kiss me."

Damon obliges, gladly, and Bonnie begins to unbutton Damon's shirt. Her hands are steady, but her heart can't wait.

* * *

**END**

**Author's Note****: Although, I am too lazy to list everyone's name, I would like to take the opportunity to yet again thank the people who have read and reviewed my work. I would especially like to thank the people who had no problem telling me how they felt about what I wrote, be it good or bad. Although some of the things I wrote may have been somewhat, if at all, controversial, I thank everyone who continued reading even if they wanted to throw something at the computer. Finally, one of the reasons I left an ominous, "sort of happy ending" note was because I really did not know how the idea of Bonnie becoming a vampire would be perceived. **

**Fiction Update****: I recently posted one-shot Bamon fiction, entitled, **_**Live, Rude Girl**_


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